Fill the Gap is a one-year rotational program for young adults in Bergamo, Italy. Its main objective is to support young graduates in their self discovery journey through four internships, of three months each, where young adults can experience different roles in companies or social organisations. During the internship, they will receive actionable feedback focused on soft skills and at the end of the program, they will receive a summary of learnings and skills developed.
Bergamo has Italy’s lowest unemployment rate (under 2%). According to the Chamber of Commerce, up to 40% of local enterprises struggle to find staff with the required technical and soft skills. However, when young graduates enter the workforce they are underprepared in practical and interpersonal skills.
Through design research, the team found that purpose and new experiences are the two things young adults most want from work. In the transition process into the workforce, young adults experience anxiety about choosing the “right” next step in their career path. Meanwhile, for young adults, first jobs were important, even if the experience felt random at the time, those jobs were often the most formative ones, because they built the human skills that help them move forward in their careers.
Fill the Gap begins with an enrollment platform for organisations and young adults. After the enrollment, participants are matched with the four internships. Both organisations and young adults receive tailored preparation, where roles and objectives are defined. The participants will have an onboarding process to set expectations before their first placement begins.
Throughout each three-month internship, participants are provided with mid-point feedback sessions and self-reflection prompts. They will be part of the onboarding experience of incoming participants, being in charge of their training. At the end of each position, organisations may submit recommendation letters alongside actionable feedback. All collected data is synthesised into a visual End-of-Year Wrap, an AI-supported reflection of each participant’s growth, skills, and possible paths forward.
For the team behind the project, main learnings were the practice of deep listening across all actors of an ecosystem, since they are essential to surface real needs and pain points that would otherwise go unspoken. Equally important was the willingness to pivot, iterate, and adapt, ensuring that the solution did not remain a concept on paper but extended into genuine value for the people it is designed to serve.
